Banks as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Banks

What is the meaning of the name Banks ?

The baby name Banks is a Unisex name , 1 syllables long and is pronounced /bæŋks/.

Banks is English in Origin.

Banks is an English surname-turned-given name deriving from Middle English banke, ultimately from Old Norse banki “ridge, slope, riverbank.” It identified someone who lived by a riverbank or on rising ground; the -s ending is a common plural or genitival surname formation. The name concentrated historically in northern England and Lowland Scotland, and appears in records from the medieval period; the renowned botanist Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820) bears it. Spelling variants include Bankes and Bancks.

As a first name, Banks has surged in the twenty-first century alongside other brisk surname choices, used for boys and, increasingly, for girls. Cultural familiarity comes via the Banks family in Mary Poppins and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and its profile rose after several celebrity baby uses. The meaning evokes edges and shorelines; related water-and-land surnames include Brooks and Rivers. Nicknames are few, though playful Banksy sometimes appears.